High time to recognize new pot era

Maybe I’ve been on vacation too long, because I actually find myself agreeing with City Councilor Philip Palmieri.

The District 2 councilor was the first to speak out in opposition to Councilor-at-Large Konstantina B. Lukes’ effort to stonewall the citing of a medical marijuana dispensary in the city and thus thwart the will of voters who sent a clear message that sick people should have access to pot.

“It is far too premature for us to be making any decision on this because the state hasn’t even yet come out with its regulations and criteria,” Palmieri noted.

The full council agreed and voted 8-2 on Tuesday to essentially kill the resolution offered by Lukes, but she’s not the only official in Massachusetts who wants to restrict or even ban drug dispensaries in their communities before medical marijuana becomes legal next month.

The new law to legalize medicinal pot was approved by more than 60 percent of the voters, but many misguided officials throughout Massachusetts appear eager to maintain the failed war on drugs, even as their constituents voice a growing acceptance of pot as medicine and even as a recreational substance.

Young people, especially, are comfortable with the idea of regulated access to marijuana. According to a poll released yesterday by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, 51 percent of American voters favor the legalization of pot, compared to 44 percent who don’t. A big age gap exists: voters 18 to 29 years old support legalization 67 to 29 percent, while voters over age 65 are opposed, 56 to 35 percent, according to the poll. There’s also a gender gap: Men support legalization 59 to 36 percent, but women are opposed, 52 to 44 percent.

Let’s be honest here. I have smoked pot. So have friends, lovers, teachers, colleagues, role models, parents (one of them, anyway), presidents, Olympic gold medalists and Willie Nelson. If you want pot in America, you can find it on virtually any street corner.

Granted, we’re talking about medicinal marijuana in Massachusetts, but the whiff of change is indeed in the air. We’ve already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of weed. In November, voters in Colorado and Washington approved the legalization of adult pot use. Many believe that widespread legalization is only a matter of time.

Nonetheless, elected officials are scrambling to develop measures preventing sick people from obtaining pot in Massachusetts. Wakefield and Reading have approved local bans. Other communities such as Quincy and Framingham are studying restrictions. In Boston, one councilor hopes to pass a zoning bylaw that would ban the dispensaries from residential and central business districts. Here in Worcester, Lukes has voiced concern about the impact of dispensaries on neighborhoods, as though marauding gangs of pot-smoking sick people would establish street creds and challenge the Kilby posse to knife fights.

Talk about reefer madness.

“People who have had experience with marijuana tend to have a better understanding of marijuana,” said Andrew Ko, manager of the Campaign for a New Drug Policy at Open Society Foundations. “It isn’t such a big deal for younger voters, although older voters are beginning to understand, too.”

Ko said zoning bylaws and other regulations are appropriate, as long as they don’t exclude dispensaries altogether. The new law calls for as many as 35 centers to open next year, with a maximum of five centers per county, to provide pot to people with illnesses such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis.

Lukes has expressed concern that one of the dispensaries may end up in Worcester. Given the city’s size, why shouldn’t two or three?

“It seems to me that the people of Massachusetts have spoken,” Ko said. “Every municipality has a right to their zoning, but to exclude dispensaries and deny sick people access is to defeat the purpose of the initiative. Marijuana should be regulated. No one wants a free-for-all. But what we have now is no regulation. It’s really the worst of all worlds.”

As for Lukes’ argument that the federal government views weed as an illegal substance, the Obama administration has been largely silent about pot since November, and Ko said he doesn’t believe the feds have a “real appetite” to swoop in on communities and arrest the sick.

In other words, don’t ask, don’t smell. Let’s hope he’s right, because regulated access to pot makes a lot more sense that the absurd war against it.

“The voters are ready for something different,” Ko said. “And if politicians don’t understand that, they’re behind the times. But I think more and more elected officials realize now that this is what the public desires.”